Novato city buildings to be assessed

The Novato City Council will soon have a better idea how much it would cost to repair and maintain some of the city's best-loved and most-used buildings thanks to a contract with a consultant approved Tuesday night.

The base contract for Faithful Gould, an international construction company with offices in San Francisco, is around $35,000 for 21 city buildings. Depending on how many additional buildings are selected for review, it could go as high as $63,910. The consultant will study buildings including the council chambers, the police department, the Margaret Todd Senior Center and the Hill Gymnasium, as well as the downtown recreation center, the Hill Community Room and the Hamilton Community Center.

The study is scheduled to be completed by the end of March.

"The entire project is part of a fiscal sustainability effort the council is looking at," said Thomas Adams, a senior management analyst with the city. "We're trying to incorporate the capital budget in the long-term fiscal sustainability process."